US Surgeon General Vivek Murthy has declared gun violence a public health crisis, as gun deaths and injuries have become a part of daily life in America.
Nearly every day so far in 2024, at least four people have been killed in a shooting incident somewhere in the country. Some days communities have experienced four or five such shootings.
The nation’s top doctor called on policymakers to consider gun safety measures, such as bans on assault weapons and high-capacity ammunition magazines and universal background checks for all firearm purchases. His advice It also calls for “substantially increasing” funding for research on gun injuries and deaths, as well as greater access to mental health care and trauma-informed resources for people who experience firearm violence.
More than 48,000 people in 2022 killed by guns According to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, approximately 132 people in the United States commit suicide each day, and more than half of these deaths are due to suicide. Additionally, more than 200 Americans seek emergency care for gunshot injuries each day, on the assumption From research by Johns Hopkins University. No federal database records nonfatal gun injuries.
The surgeon general’s office does not set or implement gun policy, but historically its reports and warnings have prompted policymakers and lawmakers to take action.
Murthy, who is a physician, told KFF Health News he hoped to convey the widespread impact of gun violence on the country and the need for an urgent public health response. He cited rising gun deaths among children and teens and said “the mental health impact of gun violence is far more profound and widespread than many of us realize.”
“Every day we are losing more children to gun violence, more children are witnessing incidents of gun violence, more children survive after being shot and have to deal with physical and mental health issues throughout their lives,” Murthi said.
The advisory said there has been a sharp increase in gun deaths, with firearm-related homicides rising over the past decade and suicides rising over the past two decades.
Guns are the leading cause of death for children and teens, and mortality rates are also high among black and Hispanic youthBoston University researchers found that during the peak of the Covid pandemic, Black children were 100 times more likely White children suffered a disproportionate increase in gun injuries. Hispanic and Asian children also saw large increases in gun assault injuries during that time period, the study found.
Joseph Sakran, executive vice president of surgery at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore and chief medical officer of Brady United Against Gun Violence, said the surgeon general’s announcement is a “historic moment that sends an alarm bell for all Americans.”
But Sakran said: “It can’t stop here. We have to use this as another step in the right direction. Nobody wants more children to be shot.”
Murthy has long argued that gun violence should be viewed as a health issue. He argued that this approach has been successful in tackling important social problems, citing tobacco control efforts that began after the then-surgeon general took office. Historic 1964 Report The conclusion was that smoking cigarettes causes lung cancer and other diseases.
“We have saved many lives and we can do the same here,” Murthy said.
Murthy’s move is one of several recent steps the Biden administration has taken to combat gun violence, as most gun-related measures remain politically intractable in Congress. Federal officials have allowed states to take a number of steps to combat gun violence. Using Medicaid Dollars to pay for gun violence prevention, and the White House has called on hospital executives and doctors to Collect more data on gunshot injuries and routinely counseling patients about the safe use of firearms.
While available data points to tragic outcomes in American communities, government officials and public health researchers have long been confused about why Sparse federal funding The book is devoted to the scope of research on gun violence and its health effects.
“I’ve been studying gun violence for almost 33 years, and there are still some basic and fundamental questions I can’t answer,” said Daniel Webster, a gun violence researcher at Johns Hopkins University.
“To really understand gun violence, you need to do more than just look at publicly available surveillance data,” he said. “You really need to do in-depth studies involving the populations that are most at risk of shooting or being shot.”
A The Brady analysis found Of the 15 leading causes of death in the U.S., firearm injuries received the third-lowest amount of federal research funding through the National Institutes of Health for each person killed. The only causes of death that receive less research funding through the NIH are poisoning and falls, according to the analysis.
Sonali Rajan, an adjunct associate professor of epidemiology at Columbia University who researches the effects of gun violence on children, said political leaders and others need to shift the debate on gun violence from a focus on crime to public health.
“We’re raising an entire generation of kids for whom experiencing gun violence is normal,” Rajan said.
In Michigan, “we had a kid who survived the Oxford High School shooting, but went to Michigan State University and witnessed another mass shooting,” she said. “It’s incredibly shameful.”
Serving as President Joe Biden’s surgeon general since 2021, Murthy has at times generated political controversy with his views on gun violence.
More than a decade ago, former President Barack Obama named Murthy as the nation’s top doctor. Murthy supports federal ban Additional restrictions on the sale of assault weapons and ammunition and on gun purchases angered the National Rifle Association as well as Republicans and some Democrats in Congress. The US Senate narrowly approved Murthy for the post In December 2014The decision came more than a year after his nomination.
Murthy has previously issued advice on social isolation and loneliness, youth mental health and the well-being of healthcare workers. He said the issue of gun violence comes up in many of his conversations with young people about their mental health challenges.
“The fear of gun violence has become so deeply ingrained in the American psyche that it is deeply detrimental to our mental health and well-being,” Murthy said.
Webster said many other causes of death are looked at differently in terms of understanding the problems and developing solutions. But “generally we haven’t done that with gun violence. We’ve oversimplified it and overpoliticized it.”
As Sakran said: “When we look at injuries caused by firearms, arguably no public issue is more urgent.”
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